Update From Nazareth |
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| Women battle to bring Dead Sea Scrolls back to life |
| 13/02/2010 |
| Four immigrants from former Soviet Union in charge of conservation, restoration of famed scrolls found half a century ago on Dead Sea shores. 'I don't consider it as work, I consider it as a blessing,' one of them says.
The only four people in the world allowed to touch the 2000-year-old Dead Sea Scrolls are battling a resilient enemy: Sticky tape.
Their weapons: Tweezers, tiny brushes and infinite patience.
"I don't consider it as work, I consider it as a blessing," says Tanya Treiger as she runs a scalpel-like instrument around the contours of a small piece of parchment with slow, deliberate and sparing movements.
Treiger is one of four women, all immigrants from the former Soviet Union, in charge of the conservation and restoration of the famed scrolls found half a century ago on the shores of the Dead Sea.
Their job is to ensure the manuscripts on show are exhibited in ideal conditions and to restore the tens of thousands of fragments that suffered not only from the ravages of time but also from past conservation efforts.
Day after day for the past 18 years, they have painstakingly removed adhesive tape that was used decades ago to join matching fragment.
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